<\/p>\n
The long-time gold maxi says he will “probably launch\u201d a token representing physical gold as part of a platform to make gold easy to transfer and spend.\n<\/p>\n
Peter Schiff, well known in the crypto industry as a Bitcoin critic<\/a> and gold advocate, announced that he\u2019s exploring a new way to make bullion digital \u2014 via blockchain<\/a>. Schiff revealed his plans for a tokenized gold platform during an interview<\/a> on CounterParty TV posted yesterday, Oct. 23. <\/p>\n The proposed platform includes a debit card that would let users buy, hold, and spend tokenized<\/a> gold, while keeping the precious metal in vaults. Schiff didn\u2019t miss a chance to critique Bitcoin as he explained his upcoming product in the interview:<\/p>\n \u201cIdeally, the one thing that makes sense to put on a blockchain is gold. Because it will work. And it will do all the things that Bitcoin promises, but can never do. You can use tokenized gold as a medium of exchange, as a unit of account, as a story of value. And I\u2019m probably going to launch my own token at some point.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n Schiff described the upcoming platform as a way to make gold holdings portable and spendable, letting users manage their tokenized gold in a mobile app, spend fractions via a debit card, and transfer ownership on-chain. <\/p>\n He also noted that the platform \u201cwon\u2019t send you the actual gold\u201d as the metal will remain stored in a vault, but users will be able to \u201ctransfer ownership of that gold to other people\u201d and redeem their tokenized gold for physical gold, he said. Schiff did not specify if there will be geographical or national limitations for ownership or transfer.<\/p>\n Schiff\u2019s platform is set to enter a rapidly growing tokenized commodity sector, which has surged over 36% in the past month, per data<\/a> from RWAxyz. The sector is dominated by two tokenized gold products, Tether Gold (XAUT) and Paxos Gold (PAXG), which together account for $2.9 billion in tokenized value, over 80% of the $3.53 billion market.<\/p>\n Schiff\u2019s bullishness may be fueled by the growing trading volumes in tokenized gold in particular, as the spot price of gold rallied in recent months.<\/p>\n Over the last month, the aggregated trading volume of XAUT<\/a> and PAXG<\/a> spiked to surpass $16.5 billion, marking an all-time high and a 2,760% increase from January this year, per data from DefiLlama.<\/p>\n While still light on details, Schiff’s plan drew swift and mixed reactions from the crypto community. <\/p>\n Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst for Bloomberg, joked<\/a> in response to the interview, \u201cCongratulations you just invented an ETF,\u201d adding that investors already have options like VanEck\u2019s OUNZ and Goldman Sachs\u2019 AAAU, which hold physical gold in vaults and let shareholders redeem their shares for actual gold.<\/p>\n Binance<\/a> founder Changpeng Zhao \u2014 who yesterday was pardoned<\/a> by President Doland Trump after pleading guilty in November 2023 to repeatedly violating U.S. anti-money laundering rules \u2014 criticized<\/a> Schiff\u2019s proposed product, calling it \u201cnot \u2018on chain\u2019 gold\u201d and referring to it as a \u201c\u2018trust me bro\u2019 token\u201d due to its reliance on third-party custodians for redemption.<\/p>\n \u201cTokenizing gold is NOT \u2018on chain\u2019 gold. It\u2019s tokenizing that you trust some third party will give you gold at some later date, even after their management changes, maybe decades later, during a war, etc,\u201d Zhao wrote on X.<\/p>\n However, Zhao\u2019s criticism was put under pressure as Wintermute CEO Evgeny Gaevoy pointed out in a follow-up response<\/a> that the same argument could apply to crypto assets wrapped via centralized entities like WBTC\/cbBTC or SOL on BNB Chain.<\/p>\n \u201c[…] and you can make the same argument for storing your crypto on centralized exchanges,\u201d Gaevoy added in a direct jab at the CEX founder.<\/p>\nTokenized Commodities<\/h2>\n
\u2018Trust Me Bro\u2019 Token<\/h2>\n